Semiotics: Friday 21st September :)

Semiotics-the study of signs

• Examines how symbolic, written and technical signs construct meaning
• Looks at how meaning is made and understood
• As human beings we all create understanding and meaning of signs…e.g. fire exit sign

Key terms:

•  The signifier-the sign: a world, colour or image. (E.g. the colour blue
• The signified-the concept/meaning/associations that the sign refers to (i.e. blue is often associated with sadness or the seat etc.)

Examples:

RED ROSE- signifier:red rose with green stem

Signifies: a symbol of passion and love.

BROWN CROSS- signifier:brown cross

Signifies: a symbol of religion or Christianity

HEART- signifier:heart

Signifies: a symbol of love and affection

The Media:

Media texts ‘re-present’ the world to us

The media ‘mediates’ how we view the world and in many ways can dictate if we respond o types or ‘stereotypes’ of things in a positive or negative way.

Representation:

Young people in hoodies are represented as wild, obnoxious, violent aggressive thugs.

Subverting stereotypes:

Media producers do not all construct lazy, simplistic representations that fit in with societies’ and the audiences’ existing misconceptions and prejudices.

Media texts can choose to present characters and events that challenge these ideas. These characters may subconsciously go against the stereotype, or just present a person as not being different to others. 

KEY WORDS:

Denotation: What we actually see

Connotative Level: What you associate with that image

Denotative: the surface meaning

Connotative: the deeper or hidden meanings and associations

Shooting our Preliminary task

We begun thinking about our prelim task when our media teacher Adam gave us our storyboard. We had to then think about a theme that would work well around that storyboard. Costume was a big part of the task because we had to make sure that our audience would be able to tell what time our piece was set in. Alexandra and I dressed up as Chavs or thugs, with tracksuit bottoms, caps and hoodies. This signified that our storyboard was set in modern day and it gave the audience an understanding of the genre and the piece. 

Our storyboard:

We had to include all of the shots and the dialogue shown in the storyboards. We did five different shots in three different positions and at the end we did a panning shot. We started off with a 'Wide Shot'. This is effective because it sets the scene for the audience, it also means that we have shot some of the scenes and it also acts as a back up shot just incase we weren't happy with one of the other shots we can also choose one from the 'wide shot'. Then we did two 'Over the shoulder' shots, one on the left and one on the right. We zoomed in Alexandra's face and then we zoomed in on my face. This brings the audience closer into the characters conversation and also because it purely adds more variation to our sequence. If we shot it all in wide shot it would be a boring sequence. Then we did an extreme close up on the passing of the spray paint from one character to another. This adds detail to our prelim. Then at the very end we did an extra ‘Panning shot’ as an experiment because we had some time left. This created good effect and variety in our prelim that engaged the audience and kept them interested.    

Analysis of sound in 'Kill Bill: Vol 1'

The video starts off a nail getting hammered into wood with music that is an eerie,spooky,daunting sound and it starts off high pitched and as the nail gets hammered into the wood the music gets deeper.

 

This is the nail being hammered into the coffin with the girl still alive inside it. 

Then all you can see in the picture is pitch black and you hear the loud sound of soil being poured over her coffin and then you hear her panic. This relates really well to the audience because they can't see what is going on they can only hear what is going on so it makes them think and it puts you in the position she is in. It also gave me the feeling of claustrophobia not being able to see anything and just hearing the soil which is what the director wants us to feel because it puts us in her position and makes us relate to the scene. 

This is a print screen of the girl who is trapped inside the coffin when she starts to make loud panic and crying sounds. 

After this you can only hear the sound of her panic and see the torch light. She is groaning and crying. This proves how frightened she is by the tone of her voice. 

Camera session No.2 Monday 10th September 2012

In the second camera session we assembled the tripod and put the camera on it without help from one of the media technicians Mat so we could see how much we remembered. My group was a bit of a nightmare because we couldn't make the tripod to one height, it was a wonky tripod for a while. Once we sorted out our wonky tripod and assembled the camera and turned it on our teacher gave us a quick intro to what we were going to be doing and how to do it. Then in our teams we made a short video which i was the actor in and i had to walk into the room, sit down and drink from a water bottle, put the bottle down and walk out.
In our team we had:

• director,
• actor,
• camera man,
• assistant 1
• assistant 2

We shot from 4 different angles, focusing on the face, then the bottle, the chair and then the whole body which is a wide shot.
We then watched them back and thought about what we could improve and we made a different video focusing on what could be better and we all swapped roles in the team.  

Camera Session No.1 Friday 7th September 2012

In the first camera session we were taught how to set up the tripod, and how to assemble the camera onto the tripod. There are lots of little buttons everywhere that you have to remember and it is all a bit confusing but i am confident that with enough practise i will get the hang of it.
We were taught how to white balance and how we can do it with any sort of white object or material. We also looked at focusing the lens and zooming in and out. We learnt how to strike the camera and bubble it. We also learnt about exposure. Exposure is to do with how much light you let in to the camera. We were shown how to put the battery in and how to turn the camera on and off which may be the simplest thing we learnt but its also the most important.

This is like the Tripod we were taught to assemble and attach the handle too.

This is a low grade professional camera that we are using!

Mariella Bailey (all about meeeeeee)

Hello there, my name is Mariella but some people call me Maz. I go to Hurtwood House and  i am taking Media Studies for one of my A-Levels. I have never taken a subject like this so it is something fresh and different. I love to watch films in my free time. The sort of films i enjoy watching are rom-coms, thrillers,action and comedies. So basically i enjoy all types of movies... The reason i chose to take media is because i think the film industry is very interesting and it is a good A-Level to have. I am really enjoying media because i have learnt about how to use a camera which i would have never done before and it is something very different from my other subjects. I have been watching some of the year aboves finished opening title sequences that they made last year and i am really excited to start making mine!!